Mark and others:
The fire trucks are beginning their watering. I will have more details in
the next day or two as to requested priority locations. Please remember a
lot depends on the emergencies the fire dept. has to take care of first -
then it's on to the trees. So don't have a fire at your house this week - ok?
Anyway, for the moment,
Annie Young
citywide Park Commissioner
At 08:59 PM 7/20/05 -0500, Mark Snyder wrote:
First off, thanks to Annie for finding out this project was a a contractual
planting by Public Works and that the trees have a guarantee period.
I realized after my post/rant hadn't been up that stretch of Central Ave in
probably a month, so I drove up along it after work tonight to refresh
myself on the size of this project. As Sean said, it runs down the middle of
Central Ave and it goes from 28th Ave to about 37th Ave. It looks pretty
similar to the median plantings on South Third Street downtown by City Hall.
I'm not sure how many trees total were planted (I'd guess approximately a
hundred or so). Many of them did look to be in decent shape considering the
dry stretch we've had, but I did count about two dozen trees that can be
classified as "tinder" along this stretch of almost a mile. A bunch more
could conservatively be classified as "stressed" - there are also a variety
of shrubs, flowers, prairie grasses and probably some other stuff (nobody
will mistake me for a horticulturist). In all, it was a pretty extensive
project and probably accounted for a good number of labor hours to install
in addition to the cost of the trees and other plants themselves. And it
will presumably cost a good number of labor hours to dig out and replace
dead trees.
To paint a fuller picture, the west side of Central along this way is
dominated by a cemetery, a rail yard and Columbia Golf Course. The east side
is mostly storefronts and apartment buildings. And there's still some
construction work still being finished up, too.
So while I don't want to pick on Dean because I know he means well and
wasn't familiar with the area, I have to say that expecting or even
suggesting that private citizens maintain this area is pretty unrealistic.
Even if anyone were crazy enough to try and drag their garden hose across
two lanes of traffic on Central Ave, there's hardly any homes in the area
that folks could do that from. I don't even want to guess how many trips it
would take with a five-gallon bucket to even make a dent in watering all
these trees and flowers.
So based on the info I have from Dean and Annie, here's my thought on how
this could have been handled on Central Ave and elsewhere that these public
planting projects occur and I hope people will weigh in if I'm totally
off-base here or if this kind of thing is already going on and Central Ave
was just a fluke.
Public Works and/or MPRB Forestry do the plantings. They contact the Fire
Department to notify of them of where the planting projects are located and
provide a rough schedule for watering. They could also contact Inspections
to give inspectors a heads-up on watching out for projects in their zones
while they're out in the field - I'm presuming it wouldn't take that much
training for inspectors to learn how to recognize stressed trees and
perennials, though in light of the recent fiasco where the native prairie at
that YWCA facility was destroyed, maybe I'm wrong.
But if firefighters follow the watering schedule they've been provided and
inspectors help out with a call or an email if they notice something that
doesn't look right, then hopefully this little bit of extra planning and
oversight pays off in the long run...at least, I hope.
Mark Snyder
Windom Park
On 7/19/05 6:25 PM, "Dean Zimmermann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I don't know about the specifics of what is happening on Central Ave. They
> may or may not be City/Park Board Trees. Sometimes these trees are put in
> by a business association or something.
>
> But, if you see trees that you think need watering you should do something
> about it. The best thing to do is:
>
> 1) water them yourself if possible. The more trees that private citizens
> water themselves, there will be more government resources available to
water
> other trees. There is lots of talk about the right way to water them, but
> any water applied any way is better than no water. It is best to let it
> trickle into the earth to give a deep soaking, but if you can just carry a
> couple of pails of water to them that is good too.,
>
> If you can't do that for whatever reason,
>
> 2) call the Park Board Forestry Dept at 370-4900 Give them the exact
> location of the trees.
>
> If all else fails
>
> 3) Call the fire department. The Fire Department is charged with the
> responsibility of water trees that the Forestry department asks them to.
> Note: we are talking about trees owned by the City/Park Board, not private
> trees.
>
> A truly last resort
> 4) Call your local Park Board Commissioner or City Council Member.
>
>
> Peace,
>
> Dean Zimmermann
> Mpls City Council - Ward 6
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> C: 612-388-1311
> W: 612-673-2206
> H: 612-724-3888
> 2200 Clinton Avenue South
> Minneapolis, MN 55404
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
> Of Mark Snyder
> Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 6:22 AM
> To: Minneapolis Issues Forum
> Subject: Re: [Mpls] Watering Trees; Mpls Park & Rec information
>
>
> That's what buckets are for. Your point, however, about the lack of
planning
> that went into these medians is right on target. It shouldn't be that hard
> to follow up new plantings with regular watering to help ensure their
> survival.
>
> The city knows where they are and when they went in and they have water
tank
> trucks to deliver water far more efficiently than any of us could do with
> hoses or buckets.
>
> But even if there are warranties, I'm pretty sure not watering the trees
> regularly enough would void them.
>
> Mark Snyder
> Windom Park
> who's been visiting his gramma almost daily to water the crab apple tree he
> planted two weeks ago in her yard
>
> On 7/18/05 11:34 PM, "Sean Ryan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> Okay, wonderful, but what about the city owned trees in the newly planted
>> medians on Central Avenue? Lots of those have not survived their initial
>> planting and now are dead and tinder dry. I hope nobody tries to scurry
>> across 2 lanes of central to drag their hose out there. It seems so silly
> to
>> plant hundreds of trees and spend public dollars only to see them die 2
>> weeks later. Does the nursery that supplies have a warranty for the city
>> like bachman's has for the perennials in my yard?
>>
>> Sean Ryan
>> Logan Park
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